The
process of public
transparency and
clarity of purpose
expected of corporate
executives and civic
officials is recently
a recurring theme
in the news. Whether
it is the transparency
of operations within
Wall Street firms
or clarity of the
political positions
of our presidential
candidates, the point
is the same. As a
nation or a community,
as citizens or residents,
we want to be involved
in the process of
the open discussion
and decision-making
that directly affect
our lives.

Two
recent Del Mar issues,
the Garden Del Mar project
and the proposed increase
in the TOT (both on
the ballot for community
voter approval in November)
have brought to light
how important that process
is to Del Mar residents.

In
the case of the Garden
project, the selection
of Exceptional Public
Benefits (EPB’s)
by the Council to allow
the developer to exceed
zoning floor area ratios
were negotiated by a
Council sub-committee.
That process nearly
killed the project.
The Council's decision
process on the EPB's
failed to involve its
own appointed citizen
committee. These citizens
had to pull the Council
back into reconsidering
the EPB's. The result
of more public involvement
was an increase in EPB’s.
The bottom line is that
more involvement probably
increases the chance
that the project will
win voter approval.

Again,
within weeks of the
Garden Del Mar issue,
the City Council moved
hastily with the discussion
of the Transient Occupancy
Tax (TOT) – to
benefit the city with
an increase of annual
funds from the TOT and
to keep a verbal agreement
to work with the Del
Mar Village Association.
The city’s
hoteliers proposed a
Transient Marketing
District (TMD) that
would fund marketing
efforts to increase
visitor traffic – but
this was not based upon
input of the entire
community. Now the TOT
has met stiff community
resistance with the
existing TMD tethered
to it in any form.

Within
these issues is the
lesson that Del Mar,
as a community, was
founded on a process
of resident involvement
that requires transparency
and clarity with all
issues, small and large.
When the City Council
or the city management
work in isolation and
haste to meet compressed
deadlines or in fear
of financial loss, they
risk circumventing the
most important part
of the Del Mar process
- full resident input.
They also risk unduly
raising community anxieties
that the City Council,
as representative of
the community, is compromising
the Community Plan with
approvals and ordinances
that have crevices;
crevices that would
allow an opportunist
to challenge the intent
of these approvals and
ordinances with actions
that would negatively
impact Del Mar for many
years in the future,
if not permanently.
This is not acceptable.

For
Del Mar, in all areas
of community planning
and city management,
full process of community
input trumps the best
intentions of decisions
made in isolation and
haste. The present City
Council and future City
Councils would be well
served to keep this
in mind if they want
to avoid the risk of
repeating the contentious
resident reactions of
this past summer.